[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 207 (Wednesday, December 1, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1297]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  AMERICAN CYBERSECURITY LITERACY ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 30, 2021

  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4055, the 
``American Cybersecurity Literacy Act,'' bipartisan legislation I co-
led to educate the American public about basic cybersecurity issues.
  Cyberattacks and data breaches are increasingly common, costing 
private companies and consumers billions of dollars and exposing the 
private information of countless Americans. As attackers become more 
sophisticated, Americans must have the tools to identify risks and 
protect themselves from attacks.
  This bipartisan legislation requires the National Telecommunications 
and Information Administration (NTIA), an agency within the Department 
of Commerce, to conduct a public education campaign to improve cyber 
literacy of the American populace by providing information about common 
cybersecurity risks and best practices that can mitigate those risks.
  During the Energy and Commerce Committee markup of the legislation, I 
offered an amendment to make several technical and minor edits to the 
legislation to ensure the language is as effective as possible. One of 
those changes ensures that the cyber literacy campaign required by the 
bill also encourages Americans to install cybersecurity patches 
associated with software and apps they use. Installing patches is one 
of the most effective tools consumers can use to protect themselves. 
When companies offer updates to their software and apps, they often 
include code that ``patches'' recently identified vulnerabilities. 
Cyberattacks are often conducted by exploiting known vulnerabilities 
and consumers can avoid their systems being exploited by installing 
patches as soon as they're available.
  I thank Rep. Kinzinger, Chairman Pallone, and Ranking Member McMorris 
Rodgers for their partnership on this legislation, and I urge my 
colleagues to vote for it.

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